The Indipendent: Outlander star Sam Heughan on why sex is so central to the futuristic show

The fantasy drama series has got people talking about its levels of nudity and sex.

But it isn’t just the sweeping shots of Scotland and the strong female lead that’s got people talking. The racy scenes and nudity in Outlander have filled just as many – if not more - column inches than anything else about the show.

However, Heughan, who plays the dashing Scotsman Jamie, says that the sex is “very important” to the series. Speaking to The Independent, he said, “It’s sort of about these individuals discovering each other and learning to work together and yeah, they do fall in love.”

“So the sex becomes not gratuitous or just some sort of titillation for viewers, it’s about moving the relationship forward and every time we had a scene like that, we were very aware of what we wanted the audience to see or not see, what it meant to the relationship and then how that moved forward.”

The 34-year-old actor went on to say, “There’s a sort of famous wedding episode and that’s very much about them falling in love and discovering each other but, dare I say it, you probably won’t see that again because their relationship is then tested and moves forward constantly.”